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Mohamad Ballan Curriculum Vitae Assistant Professor Department of History Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY 11794-4348 [email protected]

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

2019–present Assistant Professor of History, Stony Brook University

2018–2019 Junior Fellow, Dartmouth Society of Fellows. Dartmouth College

EDUCATION

PhD, 2019 Department of History, University of Chicago Dissertation: “The Scribe of the Alhambra: Lisan al-Din ibn al-Khatib, Sovereignty and History in Nasrid ” Committee: David Nirenberg (chair), John Woods, Maribel Fierro, Ahmed El Shamsy Comprehensive exam Medieval Iberia, Pre-Modern Islamic History, and Early Modern Europe fields: MA, 2010 Social Sciences, University of Chicago BA, 2008 History Honors, University of British Columbia

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Medieval Europe; Mediterranean history; borderlands and frontier history; political thought; Islamic history; medieval Iberia; intercommunal relations; intellectual networks; historiography; Late Antiquity

PUBLICATIONS

Articles

2020 “Genealogy, Lineage and Ethnocultural Identity in Nasrid Granada.” In De sangre y leche. Raza y religión en el mundo ibérico/Of Blood and Milk: Race and Religion in the Medieval and Early Modern Iberian Worlds (Madrid, 2020), ed. Mercedes García-Arenal (forthcoming) 2010 “Fraxinetum: An Islamic Frontier State in Tenth-Century ,” Comitatus 41 (2010): 23–76

Book reviews

2015 Review of Oppressed in the Land? Fatwas on Living under Non-Muslim Rule from the Middle Ages to the Present by Alan Verskin. Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 74, no. 1 (April 2015), pp. 169–172 2

2015 Review of Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choice of Interpreting the Prophet’s Legacy by Jonathan A.C. Brown. Review of Qur’anic Research, Vol. 1, no. 3 (2015) 2015 Review of Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad by Natana Delong- Bas, Ballandalus (May 16) 2013 Review of Global Salafism: Islam’s New Religious Movement, ed. Roel Meijer, Ballandalus (May 10)

Online Publications and Public Scholarship

2019 “Il-Kantilena: A 15th-century Poem in Medieval Maltese,” Ballandalus (April 8) 2019 “Modern Monuments and Medieval Mythologies: The Statue of Avengalvón in Burgos,” Ballandalus (April 2) 2019 “Review of ‘Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time’ Exhibit (Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University),” Ballandalus (April 1) 2019 “650th Anniversary of the Assassination of Pedro I of Castile-León (r. 1350-1369),” Ballandalus (March 30) 2019 “The Iconography of Royal Power in 12th-c. Norman Sicily,” Ballandalus (January 30) 2019 “The Manuscripts of Manuel Bacas Merino (fl. 1800),” Ballandalus (January 27) 2019 “Qur’an Codex of Marinid Abū Ya’qūb Yūsuf (r. 1286-1307),” Ballandalus (January 27) 2018 “Portraits of Moroccan Ambassadors in Early Modern England,” Ballandalus (December 10) 2018 “The Last Almohads? Two Descendants of the Almohad Caliphs in 14th-c. Nasrid Granada,” Ballandalus (December 10) 2016 “A Fragment of the Lost History of al-Raqīq al-Qayrawānī (d. ca. 418/1028),” Ballandalus (August 17) 2016 “27 Prominent Medieval Andalusi Women,” Ballandalus (August 6) 2016 “Sectarianism and Violence in 11th-c. North : The Anti-Ismaili Massacre of 1016,” Ballandalus (July 31) 2016 “A Musing on Moroccan Manuscript Research,” American Academy of Research Historians of Medieval Spain Members’ Blog (July 25) 2016 “An Andalusi Mudéjar in 14th-c. Constantinople: The Travels of Ibn al-Sabbah,” Ballandalus (July 24) 2016 “Bibliography of Translated Texts from Medieval/Early Modern Iberia and North Africa,” Ballandalus (March 20) 2016 “‘Ayn al-Qudat Hamadhani: Intellectual, Mystic and Martyr,” Ballandalus (March 10) 2016 “The Reign of Ibn Hud (r. 1228-1238) according to Abu al-Walid ibn al-Hajj (d. 1318),” Ballandalus (February 24) 2015 “The Commemoration of the Martyrdom of al-Husayn b. Ali (d. 680) in al-Andalus,” Ballandalus (October 23) 2015 “Ahmad Sirhindī, Akbari Universalism and Islamic Orthodoxy in 16th/17th c. Mughal India,” Ballandalus (September 19) 2015 “Al-Madrasa al-Nasriyya in Granada: Knowledge and Power in 14th- & 15th-century al-Andalus,” Ballandalus (September 16) 2015 “Notes on Identity in the Medieval Islamic World,” Ballandalus (September 13) 2015 “Famous Historical Muslims of Hellenic/Greek Origin,” Ballandalus (August 8) 2015 “Intermarriage between Muslim and Christian Dynasties in Early Medieval Iberia (711-1100),” Ballandalus (August 4) 2015 “The Kingdoms (ca. 1010-1090): Ethnic and Political Tensions in al-Andalus during the 11th Century,” Ballandalus (August 3) 3

2015 “Majrit/Mayrit: The Andalusi Muslim Heritage of Medieval Madrid,” Ballandalus (July 20) 2015 “The Royal Edict of Expulsion (1609) and the Last Andalusi Muslims (“Moriscos”) of Spain,” Ballandalus (June 29) 2015 “An Andalusi Muslim in Early Modern Europe: Shihab al-Din Ahmad al-Hajari’s Description of the 17th-Century Netherlands,” Ballandalus (June 28) 2015 “Castilian “Reconquista,” Ottoman Expansion and the Christianization of al- Andalus,” Ballandalus (June 5) 2015 “Mongol-Papal Encounter: Letter Exchange between Pope Innocent IV and Güyük Khan in 1245-1246,” Ballandalus (June 1) 2015 “Nader Shah Afshar (r. 1736-1747): A Short Overview of the Career of an 18th- Century Iranian Conqueror,” Ballandalus (May 28) 2015 “Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 1111) and the Rise of the Almohads,” Ballandalus (May 19) 2015 “The Alcazaba of Almería: A Masterpiece of Islamic Military Architecture,” Ballandalus (May 9) 2015 “The Tomb of Ferdinand III (d. 1252) in : Emblem of Convivencia or Symbol of Reconquista?” Ballandalus (April 22) 2014 “Abu Bakr al-Turtushi’s “Siraj al-Muluk”: A Masterpiece of Andalusi Political Philosophy,” Ballandalus (December 8) 2014 “The Scholar and the Sultan: A Translation of the Historic Encounter between Ibn Khaldun and Timur,” Ballandalus (August 30) 2014 “The Islamic State’s (ISIS) Destruction of Shrines in Historical Perspective,” Ballandalus (August 5) 2014 “The Wahhabi Sack of Karbala (1802 A.D.),” Ballandalus (August 2) 2014 “Beyond Tolerance and Intolerance: Deconstructing the Myth of the Islamic Golden Age, Jadaliyya (April 3) 2014 “The Tibyan of Abd Allah ibn Buluggin (r. 1073-1090): A Fascinating Glimpse into the World of Eleventh-Century Iberia,” Ballandalus (February 15) 2013 “Famous Historical Muslims of African/Black Origin,” Ballandalus (November 19) 2013 “Prophetic Traditions about the Virtues of the in the North African Ibadi Tradition,” Ballandalus (September 19) 2013 “Poetic Epigraphy of the Alhambra,” Ballandalus (September 19) 2013 “The Rise of the Nasrids: The Origins of the Kingdom of Granada (1238-1273),” Ballandalus (September 18) 2013 “Abd al-Rahman III, Orosius’ Historiae Contra Paganos, and the Byzantine Embassy to Cordoba in the Tenth Century,” Ballandalus (May 30) 2012 “Rustamid Dynasty: An Ibadi State in North Africa (776-909),” Ballandalus (December 7) 2012 “Almería,” Ballandalus (August 12) 2012 “The Nizari Isma’ili Assassins: The Story behind Ubisoft’s “Assassin’s Creed,” Ballandalus (August 8)

Blog: https://ballandalus.wordpress.com/

AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS

2019 Gardiner Travel Award (SUNY-Stony Brook) 2018–2019 Dartmouth Society of Fellows 2017–2018 ACLS-Mellon Dissertation Completion Fellowship 4

2017 Middle East Studies Association Wadad Kadi Travel Fellowship 2015–2016 University of Chicago Social Sciences Division Travel Fellowship 2015–2016 Arnaldo Momigliano Dissertation Research Travel Award 2015 Cochrane Travel Grant

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS

Invited Talks

2020 “The Sword and the Pen in Late Medieval Granada,” Rhode Island Medieval Circle Lecture, Brown University, Providence, February 13 2020 “The View from the Other Edge: Lisan al-Din ibn al-Khatib (d. 1374) and the Foundations of Early Modernity in the Islamic World,” Dartmouth College, Hanover, January 13 2019 “‘The Last of the Himyarites”: ‘Urubiyya, Community and Sovereignty in the Medieval Islamic West,” Georgetown University, Washington D.C., November 25 2019 “Genealogy and Lineage in Nasrid Granada,” Race, Identity and Alterity, in Late 2019 Medieval and Early Modern Iberia (and Beyond), Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, New York University, New York, November 22 “Beyond 1492: Conversion, Expulsion, and the Jewish and Muslim Communities of Late Medieval Spain,” Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College, Hanover, July 23 2018 “Lord of the Sword and Pen: Professional Rivalry and Urban Politics in Nasrid Granada,” Middle Eastern Studies, Dartmouth College, Hanover, October 4 2018 “The Scribe of the Alhambra,” New York University, New York City, February 8 2015 “Lisan al-Din ibn al-Khatib and the Nasrid Dynasty: An Exploration of the Relationship between Dynastic Ideology and Historical Writing in Late 14th-Century Nasrid Granada,” Power and Institutions in Medieval Islam and Christendom, Consejo Superio de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, November 10

Conferences

2019 “‘The Last of the Himyarites’: Pre-Islamic Genealogy and Royal Legitimacy in the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada,” Middle East Studies Association Conference, New Orleans, November 16 2019 “An Ansari Caliphate? Court Secretaries and the Articulation of Dynastic Ideology in the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada (1238–1492),” American Oriental Society, Chicago, March 15 2019 “Genealogy and Lineage in Fourteenth-Century Nasrid Granada,” De sangre y leche. Raza y religión en el mundo ibérico (final de la Edad Media - inicios de la Moderna)/Of Blood and Milk: Race and Religion in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Iberian Worlds, Madrid, February 8 2018 “The Sword and the Pen in Late Medieval Granada, 1250-1400,” Urban History, ca. 1200-1500: Comparative Perspectives, University of Chicago, Chicago, May 16 2018 “Philosophy in Late Medieval Nasrid Granada: Lisan al-Din ibn al-Khatib and his Intellectual Network,” Medieval Academy of America, Atlanta, March 2 2017 “Sectarianism and Violence in Zirid Ifriqiyah: A Reinterpretation of the Massacres of 407/1016,” Middle East Studies Association Conference, Washington D.C., November 23 2017 “Competing Isma‘īlī Shī‘ī Notions of Succession in the 6th/12th Century,” The University of Chicago Shi’i Studies Symposium, Chicago, May 13 5

2016 “A Reconsideration of the Relationship between Sayf al-Dawla Ahmad ibn Hud (d. 1146) and Alfonso VII (d. 1157),” Historians of Medieval Iberia: Enemies and Friends, Stockholm, March 16 2015 “The 1501 Hispano-Muslim Qasida to Sultan Bayezid II: A Reconsideration,” Middle East Studies Association Conference, Denver, November 23 2014 “Zafadola Amicus Mei”: Vassalage, Friendship and the Construction of Imperial Sovereignty in the Chronica Adefonsi Imperatoris (ca. 1148),” Middle East Studies Association Conference, Washington D.C., November 23 2014 Imperator Totius Hispaniae: The Logic of Imperial Sovereignty in the Chronica Adefonsi Imperatoris (ca. 1148),” 49th International Congress on Medieval Studies, University of Western Michigan, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 8 2014 “They Shall Come to You from the West with God’s Religion”: Ibāḍī Doctrine and Berber Identity in Ibn Sallām’s ‘Book of the Origins of Islam and the Foundations of the Faith’ (ca. 885),” Spain-North Africa Project Conference: Power Relations and Religious Communities in the Western Mediterranean, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, May 2 2013 “Righteous Rebellion and Unjust Governance during the Reign of ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Affān (d. 656): A Reassessment of the Risālah of ‘Abd Allāh ibn Ibāḍ,” 28th Annual Middle East History and Theory Conference, University of Chicago, Chicago, May 3 2012 “Re-Imagining “al-Ghālib bi-llāh”: Lisān al-Dīn ibn al-Khaṭīb and the Construction of Naṣrid Dynastic Legitimacy in Fourteenth-Century Granada,” 27th Annual Middle East History and Theory Conference, University of Chicago, Chicago, May 5 2010 “Andalusī Crete: An Islamic Frontier State in the Ninth and Tenth Century Mediterranean,” 25th Annual Middle East History and Theory Conference, University of Chicago, Chicago, May 14

Workshops

2019 “Captivity and Social Mobility in Nasrid Granada: The Case of Abu Nu‘aym Ridwan (d. 1359),” Captivity and Ransom (Mediterranean Seminar Workshop), Brown University, Providence, May 4 2019 “Genealogy, Ethno-Cultural Identity and Regionalism in Late Medieval Granada, ca. 1250–1500,” Turning Points (Mediterranean Seminar Workshop), Princeton University, Princeton, March 2 2017 “What is ‘convivencia,’ and what are its limits?,” Ethnicity, Faith and Communal Relations (Mediterranean Seminar Workshop), University of Colorado, Boulder, November 4 2016 “Sayf al-Dawla ibn Hud (d. 1146): An Andalusi Muslim Prince in the Service of King Alfonso VII of Castile-León,” Medieval Studies Workshop, University of Chicago, Chicago, November 4 2015 “Andalusi Crete, 827–961: A Reconsideration of the Medieval Arabic Literary Sources,” Workshop on Late Antiquity and Byzantium, University of Chicago, Chicago, April 28 2014 “‘Nec amici nec hostes’: Mavia’s Revolt (ca. 378), Saracen foederati, and the Roman- Byzantine East in the Fourth Century A.D.,” Late Antiquity and Byzantium Workshop, University of Chicago, Chicago, March 11 2014 “The Politics of Islamic Ecumenism in the Afsharid Empire: A Re-examination of ‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Suwaydī’s (d. 1761) Account of the Council of Najaf (1743),” Early Modern Workshop, University of Chicago, Chicago, February 3 6

2014 “Ibāḍism in Early Islamic North Africa: A Preliminary Examination of Ibn Sallām’s ‘Book of the Origins of Islam and the Foundations of the Faith’ (ca. 885),” Islamic Studies Workshop, University of Chicago, Chicago, January 23 2011 “Between Castilian Reconquista and Ottoman Jihad: A Reconsideration of the 1501 Hispano-Muslim Qasida to Sultan Bayezid II,” Western Mediterranean Culture and Middle East History and Theory Workshop, University of Chicago, Chicago, March 2

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

August 2020–December 2020 Instructor for “HIS 516. Empire, Kingship and Sovereignty in World History” (graduate seminar) August 2020–December 2020 Instructor for “HIS 235. Heirs of Rome: The Early Medieval World, 300–1000” (200-level survey) January–May 2020 Instructor for “HIS 390. Travel and Travelers in the Medieval World” (300-level seminar) January–May 2020 Instructor for “HIS 401. The Medieval Middle East” (400-level seminar) August–December 2019 Instructor for “HIS 236. Later Medieval Europe” (200-level survey) August–December 2019 Instructor for “HIS 501. Medieval and Early Modern Europe” (graduate seminar) September–December 2016 Teaching Assistant for “Kingship in 12th-century Europe” March–June 2015 Teaching Assistant for “Holy Roman Empire” September–December 2014 Teaching Assistant for “Islamic History and Society” September–December 2013 Teaching Assistant for “Islamic History and Society”

SERVICE

2020– Reviewer for Brill (“Handbook of Oriental Studies” series) present 2019– Reviewer for History Compass present 2019–2021 Undergraduate Committee, History Department, SUNY-Stony Brook.

2017 “Lineage, Loyalty and Legitimacy in the Medieval Iberia and North Africa, 600– 1600” conference at St. Louis University during the 5th Annual Symposium of Medieval and Renaissance Studies (http://smrs.slu.edu/docs/SMRS2017Program.pdf), June 19–21. Co-organizer. 2016–2018 Middle East Medievalists. Graduate Student Representative 2016–2017 Arabic Circle at the University of Chicago. Director 2011 Middle East History and Theory (MEHAT) conference at the University of Chicago, May 12-15 (https://voices.uchicago.edu/mehat/files//2011/06/mehat2011program.pdf). Co- organizer. 2010–2011 Middle East History and Theory (MEHAT) workshop at the University of Chicago. Co-organizer.

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LANGUAGES

Arabic (fluent reading and speaking), Spanish (advanced reading and intermediate speaking), Latin (reading), French (reading), Catalan (reading)

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATION

American Historical Association Medieval Academy of America Middle East Studies Association American Oriental Society American Academy of Research Historians of Medieval Spain Spain-North Africa Project Mediterranean Seminar

REFERENCES

David Nirenberg. Deborah R. and Edgar D. Jannotta Distinguished Service Professor of Social Thought, Medieval History, Fundamentals, Middle East Studies, Romance Languages and Literatures, and the College, University of Chicago. Foster Hall 308, 1130 E. 59th St., Chicago, IL 60637. Contact: (773) 702-3423; [email protected]

Fred Donner. Professor of Near Eastern History, Near Eastern Languages and Civilization, University of Chicago. Oriental Institute 224, 1155 E. 58th St., Chicago, IL 60637. Contact: [email protected]

Ahmed El-Shamsy. Associate Professor, Near Eastern Languages and Civilization, University of Chicago. Pick Hall 219, 5828 S. University Ave., Chicago, IL 60637. Contact: [email protected]

Maribel Fierro. Professor. Department of Jewish and Islamic Studies and Institute of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. 1C8, Center of Humanities and Social Sciences, Calle Albasanz, 26-28, Madrid, Spain 28006. Contact: (+34) 916022419; [email protected]

Jonathan Lyon. Associate Professor of Medieval History and the College, University of Chicago. Social Science Research Building 510, 1126 E. 59th St., Chicago, IL 60637. Contact: (773) 834-0584; [email protected]

Orit Bashkin. Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History, University of Chicago. Pick Hall 223, 5828 S. University Ave., Chicago, IL 60637. Contact: [email protected]

Walter E. Kaegi. Professor Emeritus of History and the College, University of Chicago. Department of History, University of Chicago, 1126 East 59th Street, Chicago, IL 60637. Contact: [email protected]